# δεσπότης
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* δεσπότᾱς (despótās) — Doric

### Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *déspotis, an original phrase from Proto-Indo-European *déms pótis (“master of the house”), from *dṓm (“house”), whence also Ancient Greek δόμος (dómos, “house”); and *pótis (“master”), whence also Ancient Greek πόσις (pósis, “husband”); with an ending influenced by -της (-tēs, masculine adjectival suffix). Cognate with Sanskrit दम्पति (dám-pati, “lord of the house”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /des.pó.tɛːs/ → /ðesˈpo.tis/ → /ðesˈpo.tis/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /des.pó.tɛːs/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /desˈpo.te̝s/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ðesˈpo.tis/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ðesˈpo.tis/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ðesˈpo.tis/

### Noun

δεσπότης • (despótēs) m (genitive δεσπότου); first declension (Attic, Koine)
* master, lord (most commonly in the context of one who owns slaves)
* ruler, despot
* generally: owner

#### Declension

Accusative singular in the Ionic dialect is sometimes δεσπότεα (despótea).

#### Derived terms

* ἀδέσποτος (adéspotos)
* δεσποτεία (despoteía)
* δεσποτέω (despotéō)
* δεσποτικός (despotikós)
* οἰκοδεσποτέω (oikodespotéō)
* οἰκοδεσπότης (oikodespótēs)
* φιλοδέσποτος (philodéspotos)

#### Related terms

* δεσπόζω (despózō)
* (feminine form) δέσποινα (déspoina)
* δεσπότις (despótis)

#### Descendants

* Greek: δεσπότης (despótis)
** → Romanian: despot

##### Borrowings

* → Medieval Latin: despota
** → Old French: despote
*** Middle French: despote
**** French: despote
***** → Dutch: despoot
**** → English: despot
** → German: Despot
*** → Hungarian: despota
** → Italian: despota
*** → Spanish: déspota
Unsorted borrowings
* → Albanian: despot
* → Belarusian: дэспат (despat)
* → Bulgarian: деспот (despot)
* → Catalan: dèspota
* → Czech: despota
* → Danish: despot
* → Estonian: despoot
* → Finnish: despootti
* → Georgian: დესპოტი (desṗoṭi)
* → Latvian: despots
* → Lithuanian: despotas
* → Macedonian: деспот (despot)
* → Norwegian: despot
* → Polish: despota
* → Portuguese: déspota
* → Russian: деспот (despot)
* → Serbo-Croatian: despot, деспот
* → Slovak: despota
* → Slovene: despota
* → Swedish: despot
* → Ukrainian: деспот (despot)

### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “δεσπότης, -ου”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 319

### Further reading

* “δεσπότης”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “δεσπότης”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* δεσπότης in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* δεσπότης in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
* G1203 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. autocrat idem, page 54.despot idem, page 217.king idem, page 469.lord idem, page 500.master idem, page 517.ruler idem, page 726.taskmaster idem, page 856.tyrant idem, page 905.

## Greek
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek δεσπότης (despótēs).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ðesˈpotis/
* Hyphenation: δε‧σπό‧της

### Noun

δεσπότης • (despótis) m (plural δεσπότες)
* despot, tyrant (ruler with absolute power)
    Όταν πήρε εξουσία, ονόμασε τον εαυτό του δεσπότη.Ótan píre exousía, onómase ton eaftó tou despóti.When he took power, he named himself as despot.
* (religion) bishop
    Την ευλογία σου, δέσποτα!Tin evlogía sou, déspota!Your blessing, please, Bishop!
* (religion) Lord (term of address for God)
    Ευλόγησον, δέσποτα!Evlógison, déspota!Bless us, O Lord!
* (historical) despot (title of a Byzantine regional ruler)
* master, ruler

#### Declension

The irregular singular forms derived from Ancient Greek are also found: δεσπότου (despótou) and δέσποτα (déspota).

#### Synonyms

* (tyrant): τύραννος m (týrannos), αγάς m (agás)
* (bishop): επίσκοπος m (epískopos)

#### Related terms

* αδέσποτος (adéspotos, “ownerless, stray”)
* δεσπόζω (despózo, “dominate”)
* δεσποινίς m (despoinís, “Miss”)
* δέσποτας m (déspotas)
* δεσποτάτο n (despotáto)
* δεσποτεία f (despoteía, “despotism”)
* δεσποτισμός m (despotismós, “despotism”)
* δεσποτικός (despotikós, “despotic”)
* οικοδεσπότης m (oikodespótis, “host”)
* πυργοδεσπότης m (pyrgodespótis)
* υποδεσπόζουσα f (ypodespózousa, “dominant -chord-”, participle and noun) (music)

#### Descendants

* → Romanian: despot